Ok so before anyone starts freaking out I'm not trying to cut corners or put my life or anyone elses in danger.

I'm just curious and looking for answers. I'm wanting to build a 3 link or maybe a mid arm set up and getting my parts list together.

From what I have been reading a common material for the arms seems to be 1.5" .25" Dom. I am a pipe welder and at work have access to 1.5" sch 160 and 2" sch xxs. Now the wall thickness of sch 160 is .281" and .436" for sch xxs. This is seamless stainless steel pipe and was wanting to know I this would work.

Please don't say your stupid cutting corners trying to kill someone etc ONLY USE DOM BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS etc. If it won't work please EXPLAIN TO ME WHY. I am trying to gain Knowledge not cut corners.

Here is a chart of wall thickness

And a picture of 2" sch xxs.

I personally feel the sch xxs is over kill.

Every weld I do for work is x ray tested and hydro tested. When I weld my arms I plan on a tig root with a stick pass.

Here is an example of my weld to show what it will look like welded.

I don't want to have a pissing contest or 5 pages of arguments or down talk so can we please just focus on what I asked. Again tell me why.

 

dont use pipe. you'll hit a rock, it'll bend, create a weak spot, fatigue, and break. doesnt matter how awesome your tig skills are, you cant make up for the material being used in a way it wasn't made to be used. the 6 feet of DOM you need for mid arms is cheap as hell.

 

No rocks in my area but thank you for an explanation. Not trying to be a cheap *** just thought why not use what I can get from work. Not sure that sch xxs would bend so easily but not trying to argue with you either. It's just some thick **** lol. Wasn't trying to show I have awesome tig skills either I just wanted to get past the whole can you weld bs that seems to be the first thing asked. Only wanted to show an example of the weld process I'd use cause I'm sure a lot of people don't have a clue what a tig root stick cap is. I've seen some suspension builds with some god ugly mig welded arms so I just wanted to avoid the whole welding conversation.

 

That would definitely be okay for upper arms, and it looks a lot safer than the flimsy stock control arms i have on my jeep. Unless anyone here can speak from personal experience on a reason not to I would say go for it.

 

That's pretty much what I was thinking Bossokee. Doesn't look worse than stock arms. But I know the whole argument between Dom and anything that's not Dom and just wanted to hear an explanation.

 

Considering what the stock arms are I think you'll be fine. Doesn't sound like you're going to be bashing them on rocks. Or you could do it right and use PVC ftw!

 

Lol come on sthon we don't need anymore PVC bashing. Man that got old fast lol. I don't plan on bashing them on rocks we mostly play in the woods. It's also my daily driver. I really have no reason to build except that I want to and like building something instead of buying it.

 

Amen, Built not Bought

 

Looks pretty thick and tuff to me!

 

I'm not familiar with it but at that thickness I'd think it would be fine. My buddies run aluminum links on their buggies and they work fine. The fun part will be finding bungs to fit since most are made to fit common DOM sizes. You could always mill a little out to make them fit.

 

^^ if ur buddies ran anything other than 7075, then they are crazy lol

 

A lot of places wont just sell you 6 feet. Around here most places only sell full 21-24' sticks

 

Not sure what it is but they run XRRA and CORES and no issues. They will bend but deflect back so you'd never know it.

 

aluminum 7075 links are awesome, but at $10-15 a foot, just a bit too pricey, plus i cant tig yet lol

 

plenty of online vendors will sell cut lengths to you. ruffstuff for one.